greenbadgecabby wrote:
[
The only other area i posses a little knowlege is Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath where my parents live, i do know when fife council de-restricted the area's, out of about 80 full time drivers, after 2 years they dwindled to under 30 with around 130 part timers.
I now wait longer for a taxi on the Carneigie rank than i did 3 years ago, so has it worked? well hopefuly a local driver can answer that one.....
Whilst i can't comment on the commiment of all these new Taxi's and drivers, I believe people would naturaly show more commitment to their full time careers.
Interesting figures there Mr GBC, are you referring to owner drivers, journeymen drivers or both?
Frankly, I find the figures a bit hard to swallow - where I work now it could hardly be much easier to get a badge and plate, and it's not restricted, but I doubt if much more than half are part-time, and I doubt if any areas have the kind of preponderance of part-timers that you indicate.
As I always say, I think the amount of part-timers probably relates to how difficult it is to get a badge, and the easier it is, the more there will be.
As regards the relationship with restricted numbers, I doubt if there really is one, what restricted numbers tends to do is to pack the more drivers into each car, basically until every hour of the week is covered.
I started in the trade in a restricted area, and the car I drove had one-full timer and around 5 part-timers, and the owner was still bleating that he couldn't get enough drivers - he only drove himself when he couldn't get drivers!!
Obvioulsy I don't know Dufermline, but I simply don't believe that there were 80 full-timers before de-restriction (no part-timers?) and then 30 full-time and 130 part-timers? I don't doubt that there are that many part-timers, but they were very probably in the trade before anyhow, and only became an 'issue' after de-restriction.
I have to laugh at some in my own area - there aren't really that many part-time cars (although most drivers are part-time) but some of the owners bleat about the part-time cars, but part-time journeymean are welcomed with open arms!
I'd love to do a proper analysis of the Dunfermline trade, but getting exact details on part-time numbers and the like is nigh near impossible, and I'd be very interested in the source of yours.
Interesting was a contributed piece we ran last year from Dundee, which said that after de-restriction, although the number of taxis increased by a good bit, the amount of drivers' badges being issued barely moved - de-restriction just gave journeyman drivers the chance to run their own vehicle.
Also interesting is some of the OFT stuff, which said that in some cities that de-restricted the total PH and taxi numbers barely changed, although many PH moved from that sector to taxis - remember that in many provincial locations PH drivers meet the same standard as HC.
If there was such a sudden influx in Dunfermline (and thus they hardly have to pass the KOL to get a badge) then that begs the question why they weren't in the trade in the past - they most probably were, but are just an issue now!!
I'll bet my bottom dollar there were load of part-timers in the Dunfermline trade before de-restriction.
Funny though, your narrative on the Dunfermline looks suspiciously like something I've heard before, where did you get it from exactly.
It kind of goes like, de-restrict, lots of part-timers arrive, full-timers disappear, then part-timers dissapear, and in the end there's less service overall than before!
Even if the part-timers get fed up, presumably there will always be other coming in, even if they get fed up as well?
I can't be bothered looking back now, but it sounds suspicioulsly like some of the Scottish Taxi Fed stuff, mixed with a bit of what Mr Kavanagh said at the Trans Comm meeting.
Well, we have first hand experience of de-restriction with Nidge and GA here, and they've never related a tale like that - I wonder why?
If you haven't already, you might like to have a look at our Myth and Reality document Mr GBC, which addresses many of the arguments against de-restriction, and concludes that they're mostly myths.
An interesting point of this kind is that there would be no late-night service. But other defenders of restrictions say that there would only be part-timers and they would only work at such times! But it seems that most of this stuff is just made up, and the contradictory nature of the arguments seems to confirm this.